If your business makes food for interprovincial trade or export, you must comply with the
preventive control requirements in Part 4 of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR). These requirements include measures you need to take to prevent food safety hazards and reduce the risk of contaminated and/or misrepresented food reaching consumers. Most businesses will need a written preventive control plan.
Failure to meet federal requirements may result in:
- product seizure or recall
- licence suspension or cancellation
- administrative penalties or prosecution
Key requirements
Identify, analyze and control hazards
- biological, for exemple Listeria, E. coli, Salmonella, and other bacteria
- chemical, for exemple allergens or chemical residues (veterinary drugs, pesticides, metals)
- physical, for exemple glass fragments, metal shavings, wood slivers
Maintain establishment in a good operating condition
- keep facility, equipment and water supply clean and sanitary
- implement pest control measures
- monitor and control temperature and humidity controls
- control movement of people, equipment and food within the facility
Transport food under clean, sanitary and temperature-controlled conditions
Ensure employee training, hygiene and health
Have procedures for
- complaints
- corrective actions
- recalls
Meet requirements for
- packaging
- labelling
- net quantity
- composition
- grades
- standards of identity
Keep records
Demonstrate compliance with food safety, traceability and other requirements (sampling and testing results, training, production monitoring records related to critical limits, descriptions of control measures, complaint procedures, and corrective action reports)
Review and update your plan regularly, especially when
- regulations or requirements change
- product volume, ingredients or equipment change
- new products or processes are introduced
- issues arise (a recall, customer complaint, unsatisfactory lab result)
The CFIA does not approve preventive control plans (PCPs). Inspectors verify that businesses have documented evidence that their control measures are effective and compliant.